WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Federal Communications

Commission chair Brendan Carr on Thursday opened a probe into

diversity practices at Verizon and raised the

telecommunications company's ongoing effort to purchase Frontier

Communications.

Carr earlier this month told NBC News-parent Comcast ( CMCSA )

he was opening a similar probe into the company's

promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Verizon

is awaiting FCC approval for its $9.6 billion purchase of

Frontier. "In order to aid the FCC's resolution of these

matters, please reach out to the agency personnel that have been

working on Verizon's pending transactions at the FCC," Carr

wrote.